How long was it before you found your first old coin?

[Excursion09]

Since I just started mding last weekend...and haven't had any luck finding anything old...I was wondering how long before you found your first old coin, or whatever...and where?...ie park, old homestead, field etc.

 

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[lafatlife]

I've been detecting for just over a year and the oldest coin so far is a 1909 penny.

 

[John (Ma)]

Depends what you consider old. I found a silver Rossie on my first day. I think it was called beginners luck, lol.

 

[berkshiregold]

I was very lucky! I just started MDing last year and found an 1864 2 center in my front yard within the first week of using my new M6!! bg

 

[baylorhall]

It took me 4 months to find a piece from a 1929 Dodge and 5 months to find my first buffalo nickel. Don't get discouraged!

 

[mlayers]

When I got my first detector it proably was a couple of months before I found my first piece of silver. I have not found anything really old I think the oldest coin I have found is a 1897 IH. I have had my best luck in old chuch and school yards. Plus lately I have found only clad coins. This year so far I have found around 250 coins and only 2 of them was wheat pennies and no silver so far. But that's the way it gose you keep tinking maybe next time the silver will come. So you just wait util the next hunt and see what you find. So hang in there.....Matt

 

[BIG61AL]

4 years to find my oldest wheat cent 1919, oldest silver coin 1964 rosie. mostly just find current clad maybe ten years old .....i am getting to the point where i need to start to find better stuff or I will get furstated with the hobby. I can only dig up some many pull tabs and zincoln before i go nuts.

 

[ivan salis]

how old is old to you ? -- pre 1964 when dimes, quarters and halfs were 90% silver -- turn of the century (1900) indain head cents . V nickles, barber dimes -quarters and halves ? civil war 1861 -1865 ? -- american revolt 1776ish? -- I found 1950 ish silver in the first monrh of mding long ago --- 6 months before the first civil war relic (bullet) -- almost a year before my first pre 1900 coin ---a lot has to do with being at the right place -- to find old stuff you gotta go where folks were back then that might have lost stuff --todays vacant lot might have been a store 100 years ago ( often knowing your local history and doing a bit research is the key to finding lots old stuff )

 

[George (MN)]

You're just getting started. What detector are you using? Are you finding lots of new coins? And how deep was the deepest? Most parks & schoolyards have been gone over thousands of times since the '60s or '70s. About all that's left for virgin sites is private property & even many of those areas have been searched multiple times.

I started detecting 1976. it took a few weeks to get an old coin at a park, now it's harder. In many park & school locations, you now need one of the deepest detectors & a thorough understanding of it, to get anything old. You must somehow get deeper or get coins next to trash better separated. You may need to dig items the detector says are junk, as they can be wrong, especially at depth, or if 2 or more targets are under the coil.

A website that may be helpful for researching places to hunt www.hometownlocator.com I wish you lotsa luck. Let us hear about your successes, or any questions you have. HH, George (MN)

 

[Elad]

I found my 182? LC about 15 months ago, but, I did have a long break between detecting. 8)

 

[savant365]

I found an 1876 sheild nickle a couple months after I started. Since then not much old stuff. I think the area you are hunting will determine what you are finding. Research will pay off for you. The older the site the older the finds.

HH Charlie

 

[sniffer]

the oldest coin I've found so far is a 1882 indian head, found in the middle of a bean field.
my oldest silver is a 1937 liberty, riverside park
medallion from 1909, church parking lot about 5 miles off the highway
alaska yukon pacific exposition medal 1909
I've been MDing for about 3 years, my first coin is also the oldest. It took about a year to find that one

 

[johnnycat]

I found an 1898 dime within a week. Now it has been almost 3 years since I've found any old stuff.

 

[Mick93]

Since I just started mding last weekend...and haven't had any luck finding anything old...I was wondering how long before you found your first old coin, or whatever...and where?...ie park, old homestead, field etc.

I started in the early80s so older coins were an everyday event except for the occasional skunk,,today is a different story !
For older coins and such you will have a much better chance hunting yards of older homes in your area. Not that parks and known old sites dont still hold a few good items but they have been hunted hard. Being new to the hobby if you have relatives, friends or such that live in older homes ask to search their yards to start with ,then spread out to homes with old rock foundations in your city. Just be sure to ask permission, do neat and proper digging ( they shouldn't hardly be able to tell you have been there ). Even if you only get 2 out of 10 that will let you search their yards , it will keep you busy and often virgin ground !